L’altra notte in fondo al mare

L’altra notte in fondo al mare
Il mio bimbo hanno gittato
Or per farmi delirare
Dicon ch’io l’abbia affogato.
L’aura é fredda, il carcer fosco,
E la mesta anima mia
Come il passero del bosco
Vola via. Ah, pietà di me!
In funereo sopore
E mia madre addormentata,
E per colmo dell’orrore
Dicon ch’io l’abbio attoscata.
L’aura é fredda, il carcer fosco,
E la mesta anima mia
Come il passero del bosco
Vola via. Ah! Pietà di me!

Translation by Theodore T Barker, Boston, O. Ditson, 1908, p.18

To the sea, O night of sadness!
They my bab took and in it threw him!
Now, to drive me on to madness,
They declare ‘twas I who slew him!
Cold the air is, the dark cell narrow,
And my spirit, broken to-day.
Like the timid woodland sparrow,
Longs to fly far, far away. Father, pity me!
In a deathly slumber falling,
Died my mother - no aid could save her;
And, to crown the woe appalling,
They declare I poison gave her.
Cold the air is, the cell dark and narrow,
And my sad heart, broken to-day, etc.